LAF locates whereabouts of some wanted persons in Arsal incident

LAF Commander General Jean Kahwaji arrived in Akkar aboard a chopper which landed in the courtyard of Issam Fares Center, to pay condolences to the family of martyr Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman.     

In this regard, exclusive sources told LBCI that the LAF identified the location of some of the wanted persons in the Arsal incident and are proceeding into the town to capture them.        

LAF troops were ambushed Friday February 1st, 2013, while trying to detain fugitive, Khaled Hmeid, suspected of involvement in the 2011 kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists. They were abducted in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley and held for nearly four months before being released in July that year.   

Some security officials have said that Hmeid crossed the border into Syria over the past months to fight with rebels trying to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad. Many in Arsal, a Sunni Muslim town, are sympathetic to Syrian rebels These as fears of a Syrian spillover are mounting in Lebanon.    

LBCI showed photographs Sunday of uniformed soldiers being held in the municipality building in Arsal. Some of the soldiers had bruises, and others were bloody. Some residents in Arsal have said that the troops who were ambushed were in civilian clothes and using civilian cars. They said they believed they were pro-government Syrian militiamen who crossed the border from Syria to capture Hmeid.    

The death of the two soldiers have stirred the emotions of Lebanese Army supporters leading many to cut off roads and burn tires as a reaction to the crimes.